The Promise

Jeroboam Leads Israel Back to Idol Worship

Picture: Jeroboam Leads Israel Back to Idol Worship 2TC 47.1

Under Solomon’s rulership, Jeroboam had shown ability and sound judgment. His years of faithful service fitted him to rule with wisdom. But Jeroboam failed to trust in God. 2TC 47.2

His greatest fear was that his subjects might be won over by the ruler occupying David’s throne. He reasoned that if the ten tribes often visited the ancient seat of the monarchy, where the temple services were still conducted as in Solomon’s reign, many might renew their allegiance to the government at Jerusalem. He determined to reduce this probability with one bold stroke. Within his newly formed kingdom he would create two centers of worship, one at Bethel, the other at Dan. He would invite the ten tribes to worship God in these places instead of at Jerusalem. 2TC 47.3

In arranging this transfer, Jeroboam thought to appeal to the imagination of the Israelites by some visible object to symbolize the presence of the invisible God. He placed two calves of gold in shrines at the centers of worship. In doing this, he violated the plain command, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image. ... You shall not bow down to them nor serve them.” Exodus 20:4, 5. He failed to consider the great peril of setting before the Israelites the symbol their ancestors had known during centuries of Egyptian slavery. His desire for the northern tribes to stop their annual visits to the Holy City led him to adopt the most unwise policy. “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem,” he urged. “Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!” 1 Kings 12:28. 2TC 48.1

The king tried to persuade the Levites within his realm to serve as priests in the new shrines at Bethel and Dan, but in this he failed. So he elevated men to the priesthood from “every class of people, who were not of the sons of Levi.” Verse 31. Alarmed, many of the faithful fled to Jerusalem, where they could worship in harmony with God’s requirements. 2TC 48.2

The King’s Defiance Rebuked

The king had boldly defied God in setting aside His appointed worship, and God did not allow this to pass without rebuke. During the dedication of the strange altar at Bethel, a man of God from Judah appeared before the king, sent to denounce him for daring to introduce new forms of worship. The prophet “cried out against the altar ..., and said, ... ‘Behold, a child, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men’s bones shall be burned on you.’ 2TC 48.3

“And he gave a sign the same day, saying, ‘This is the sign which the Lord has spoken: Surely the altar shall split apart, and the ashes on it shall be poured out.’” Immediately the altar “was split apart, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.” 1 Kings 13:2, 3, 5. 2TC 48.4

On seeing this, Jeroboam attempted to restrain the one who had delivered the message. In anger he cried out, “Arrest him!” His rash act met with swift rebuke. The hand outstretched against the messenger of Jehovah suddenly became withered and useless. Terror-stricken, the king appealed to the prophet: “Please entreat the favor of the Lord your God,” he pleaded, “‘and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.’ So the man of God entreated the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored to him, and became as before.” Verses 4, 6. This experience should have led the king of Israel to renounce his wicked plans, which were turning people away from the true worship of God. But he hardened his heart and determined to follow his own way. 2TC 49.1

The Lord seeks to save, not to destroy. He gives His chosen messengers a holy boldness, that those who hear may come to repentance. How firmly the man of God rebuked the king! In no other way could the evils have been rebuked. The messengers of the Lord are to stand for the right without flinching. As long as they put their trust in God, they don’t need to be afraid, for He who gives them their commission also gives them the assurance of His protecting care. 2TC 49.2

How a Prophet Was Tricked Into Disobeying

The prophet was about to return to Judea, when Jeroboam said to him, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.” 2TC 49.3

“If you were to give me half your house,” the prophet replied, “I would not go in with you; nor would I eat bread nor drink water in this place. For so it was commanded me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘You shall not eat bread, nor drink water, nor return by the same way you came.’” 1 Kings 13:7-9. 2TC 49.4

While traveling home by another route, the prophet was overtaken by an aged man who claimed to be a prophet but who lied to him: “I too am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’” Again and again he repeated the lie until the man of God was persuaded to return. 2TC 49.5

God permitted the prophet to suffer the penalty of transgression. While he and the one who had invited him were sitting together at the table, the false prophet “cried out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord, and have not kept the commandment which the Lord your God commanded you, ... your corpse shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.”’” Verses 18, 21, 22. 2TC 50.1

This prophecy of doom was soon fulfilled. “So it was, after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him. ... When he was gone, a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his corpse was thrown on the road, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the corpse. And there, men passed by and saw the corpse thrown on the road. ... Then they went and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt. Now when the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard it, he said, ‘It is the man of God who was disobedient to the word of the Lord.’” Verses 23-26. 2TC 50.2

If the prophet had been permitted to go on in safety after disobeying, the king would have used this to justify his own disobedience. The split altar, the withered arm, and the terrible fate of the one who dared disobey an express command of the Lord—these judgments should have warned Jeroboam not to persist in wrongdoing. But, far from repenting, Jeroboam not only sinned greatly himself, but “made Israel sin”; and “this thing was the sin of the house of Jeroboam, so as to exterminate and destroy it.” 1 Kings 14:16; 13:34. 2TC 50.3

God’s Judgment on Jeroboam

Toward the close of a troubled reign of twenty-two years, Jeroboam met with disastrous defeat in a war with Abijah, the successor of Rehoboam. “Jeroboam did not recover strength again in the days of Abijah; and the Lord struck him, and he died.” 2 Chronicles 13:20. 2TC 50.4

The apostasy introduced during Jeroboam’s reign finally resulted in the utter ruin of the kingdom of Israel. Even before the death of Jeroboam, Ahijah, the aged prophet who many years before had predicted Jeroboam’s elevation to the throne, declared: “The Lord will ... uproot Israel out of this good land. ... And He will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who sinned and who made Israel sin.” 1 Kings 14:15, 16. 2TC 51.1

Yet the Lord did all He could to lead Israel back to allegiance to Him. Through long, dark years when ruler after ruler boldly defied Him, God sent message after message to His backslidden people. Through His prophets He gave them every opportunity to return to Him. Elijah and Elisha would live and labor, and the tender appeals of Hosea, Amos, and Obadiah would be heard in the land. Never was the kingdom of Israel left without noble witnesses to the mighty power of God to save from sin. Through these faithful ones the eternal plan of Jehovah was finally to be fulfilled. 2TC 51.2